Sweet Cherries
by The Blue Winged Angel
Summary: Sharpclaw is SkyClan's brave, headstrong deputy. Cherrytail is a coy, playful warrior. How did these two warriors fall in love with each other? Not even StarClan knows that. Adopted from KatieK101.
1. Chapter 1

When he'd first seen Cherrypaw, Sharpclaw had been unimpressed. The little tortishell was a scrawny specimen, and her stubborness and extreme enthusiasm had put him off.

Later, he got her as an apprentice. Again, Sharpclaw was unimpressed. Leafdapple, naturally, had gotten the calmer of the two, Sparrowpaw. Sharpclaw had found himself training a hyper, headstrong kit. But as time went on, he had started to warm up to her. There was another side to her. Sometimes, she was quiet and shy, almost meek. Still, he and her were not exactly close. Most of their conversations went something like this:

Sharpclaw: Here. Do this.

Cherrypaw: Okay!

Sharpclaw: You're doing it wrong. You do it like this.

(five minutes later.)

Cherrypaw: I think I've got it now!

Sharpclaw: Yep.

Cherrypaw: Yay!

Although they were certainly much, much closer than they had been before. Sharpclaw eventually started to like her. She was cute, and her pigheadedness was actually sort of endearing, he found. When she finally became a warrior, he was so proud he thought he would burst.

But there's more to this story. More than a few lessons, a few glances. More than a brief, distant mentor-apprentice relationship. Yes, there's something more here...

**A/N: Sorry about the short, horribly written prolouge and what was clearly a badly written hook for the rest of this story at the end. I just really wanted to get this out there so I can write this story. I started shipping this pairing somewhere around the time she got apprenticed to him, soooooooo... #ShippedItBeforeItWasCool #WayTooLongOfAHashtag #WhyAmIHashtagging**

**Review, my readers! Review! *cackles***


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Who wants to see a terrible second chapter that only actually barely mentions the love interest? :/**

**So this is the BIG FAT UPDATE chapter! I've updated almost all my stories and posted two special one-shots (one comical, one dark) for your reading pleasure!**

**But since you clicked on this one first, do read it:**

It was morning again. Sharpclaw had come to loathe mornings. At first he'd taken pride in his duties as a deputy, getting up early and assigning patrols as soon as the others awoke. But that had lasted only about a half-moon, and the challenge of assigning patrols to do everything that needed to be done, and keeping cats that disliked each other away from each other, and having literally no cat to vent to, had piled up, and he had stopped liking mornings.

That wasn't to say that he disliked being deputy. He actually quite liked his position, especially since he had a closeness to Leafstar and Echosong, which was nice, since he wasn't really very close to any other cat. Sharpclaw hadn't had much of a family, before or after joining SkyClan. When he was a kit, he'd had a family, but it... fell apart, to say the least.

The dark ginger tom shook his head. He was getting too wrapped up in his thoughts. He padded outside, blinking in the sunlight. _I must have slept in later than I thought,_ he thought to himself. It was a good thing he'd assigned the dawn patrol last night. They were probably back by now.

Sharpclaw turned his face towards the center of camp and sure enough, there sat Patchfoot, Clovertail, and Bouncepaw, twitching impatiently. Patchfoot in particular looked impatient. Beside him, Bouncepaw started to bounce up and down, before Clovertail and Patchfoot both shot him a look.

Sharpclaw sped up, walking as fast as he could towards the patrol without actually running. He considered saying, "How did it go?" but it was clear from the expressions on the three cats' faces that it had not gone well. So instead he just said, "Well?"

"We smelled fox. By the border in the forest," Patchfoot said.

"Was it on the near or far side of the gorge?" Sharpclaw said, and then he mentally smacked himself.

Patchfoot gave him a look that clearly said, _Dawn patrols only patrol the near side, mousebrain,_ but said, "Near," anyways.

"Fantastic," Sharpclaw muttered darkly. If the beast got too close, it would smell the cats and probably try to either drive them off or trick them into leaving. Neither option was good.

"But it's really not. In fact, it's-" Bouncepaw began. Clovertail and Patchfoot shot him another look, and the ginger apprentice stopped.

"All right. Okay. Thank you. I'll tell Leafstar later. You can do what you like," Sharpclaw said. Bouncepaw ran towards the pool of water at top speed, while Clovertail and Patchfoot each chose some prey and went off to eat.

There was a clatter of rocks falling and Sharpclaw turned to see Cherrytail and Sparrowpelt heading down a path and towards him.

Sharpclaw couldn't help but stare at Cherrytail's lithe body and smooth, tortishell fur as she and her brother walked up to him. _Right. Now I look like a mousebrain, and a pervert, _he thought. He blinked and zoned back in just in time to hear Sparrowpelt ask what they should do.

"I'm waiting until a few more cats to wake up before I start assigning patrols," Sharpclaw said, praying that the question was actually directed at him.

Thank StarClan, it was. The two young cats nodded and turned to grab some prey. Sharpclaw sighed with relief.

This was going to be a long day.

**A/N: I'm not sure I can write this. I'm kind of afraid I'm going to kill one of my favorite pairings. Not literally, you know, but figuratively.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Oh my goodness. I spent like three days reading random romantic books/fics (of any weird and awful and cracky pairings, I might add) and re-outlining this so that I could figure it out and write this chapter for you guys. And it's still awful.**

**BE GRATEFUL AND READ:**

When a few more cats were up later, Sharpclaw called everyone over.

"Sparrowpelt, Tinypaw, north border. Petalnose, please escort Echosong up to the herb patch. Waspwhisker, I just want you to glance over the south and Twolegplace borders. Cherrytail, that puts you on hunting duty; take whomever you'd like," Sharpclaw said. Cats nodded and headed off.

Except Cherrytail. She stood there, cocked her head, and looked at him.

"Ye-es?" Sharpclaw said.

"You're not doing anything. Kind of deputy stands around the camp useless? Come on; you hunt with me," she said. For perhaps the _five hundredth time _Sharpclaw wondered if this particular action was a romantic gesture, or more a friendly one, or perhaps just a nod to their former relationship as mentor and apprentice.

"Fine," he said, after exactly too long a silence. "I mean, yes sure. Okay. Yes. Fine."

They left camp and Cherrytail quickly bounded ahead, catching the occasional mouse or something and burying it to pick up later. Sharpclaw moved more slowly behind her, though in her overenthusiastic wake he found almost nothing.

They were coming to the forest border when she stopped cold. Sharpclaw frowned. That was hardly like her. He sped up until they were a lot closer.

"I smell fox," she said.

Inwardly Sharpclaw cursed himself. Of course! The fox from the dawn patrol wouldn't have just left because he and Cherrytail felt like ambling over here. Then again, it might not be here right now... He leaned down to sniff the ground.

With no warning, a fox jumped on Sharpclaw and pinned him to the ground.

Cherrytail shouted and made to pounce on the fox, but before she landed, Sharpclaw snapped at its neck. The fox started, then scrambled off him and ran off. Cherrytail landed on Sharpclaw, managing, somewhat impressively, to knock him over.

Sharpclaw's heart raced. Cherrytail was breathing heavily.

"Um, sorry," she said. She hesitated, then added, "This may not be the most opportune time in the world to tell you, but I really like you. Love? No, not love. I don't want to commit to that." Cherrytail paused again looking contemplative, which luckily gave Sharpclaw time to remember his name. "Anyways, yes. Telling you that. I like you. That is," she said.

"Um. Yes. Me also," said Sharpclaw. Instantly he mentally smacked himself. _How eloquent, _he thought. _You should be a poet, or a storyteller._

Cherrytail smiled. "Oh. Oh!"

…

Every sunset the Clan gathered beneath the Rockpile to share tongues, food, stories. It had become a sort of tradition, the most peaceful part of the day. That particular night, the peace was quickly broken.

Sparrowpelt stomped over to Sharpclaw, scowling deeply. "Don't you mess about with my sister."

Sharpclaw frowned as well. "What?"

"I can see the moony looks you keep giving each other. I'm not a moron," Sparrowpelt said. "Just let her alone, okay? Don't mess about with her. Get that through your thick skull, if you possilby could."

"That's a bit rude," Sharpclaw said mildly, though inside he was engaging in a full-body groan. Maybe sigh was a better word. OF COURSE it would work out like this.

Sparrowpelt didn't reply. He went back to where he was sitting before.

After that everyone kept giving Sharpclaw strange looks, so he climbed up the Rockpile to sit with Leafstar.

"There's this she-cat, and she won't get out of my head," he said.

Leafstar did not make eye contact. "Congratulations. It's called love."

"I don't know if I want to commit to that," Sharpclaw said, and he wouldn't realize till later he'd echoed Cherrytail's words, "and I don't think you understand. I see her when I close my eyes."

"That's also love. It's part of life," Leafstar said. She didn't look nearly as concerned as Sharpclaw thought she ought to.

"The color green reminds me of her. _Every _color reminds me of her," Sharpclaw persisted, admittedly exaggerating a little bit now.

"Do I need to explain this a third time?" Leafstar said.

"How do I stop it?"

Finally, Leafstar turned to look at him. She touched her tail lightly to his shoulders. "We've all been there. There's no cure. Sorry."

It was not particularly helpful. Nevertheless, Sharpclaw vowed to keep Cherrytail out of his head.

**A/N: I think we all predicted that plot device with the fox.**

**But this isn't over yet... there's still TWO WHOLE CHAPTERS, for goodness's sakes! (Both as awful as the existing ones!)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Awww, yeah! Not only am I back for good, but this is the second to last chapter. The next one will be posted sometime over the next week, so keep a lookout!**

It had been a few days since _the fox incident, _as Sharpclaw had begun to refer to it, and he'd surprised himself by keeping Cherrytail out of his head very well.

Then again, he'd had a lot of practice. When his parents had abandoned him, he'd forgotten about them. When his siblings had died, he'd forgotten about them. He was used to forcing himself to stop thinking about cats.

It was on a star-filled evening Sharpclaw leapt to his paws (one hundred percent not thinking about Cherrytail at all, he was proud to say) and realized he hadn't sent out any border patrols, the entire day.

The cats back from hunting patrols were mostly asleep by now, but he spotted two sitting by the pond, having a quiet argument. Probably Clovertail and Patchfoot.

"You two!" he called out.

The two cats turned towards him, then scurried his way. When they came close- he could make out their faces-

Cherrytail and Sparrowpelt. Literally the two worst possible options at the moment. Of course.

Sharpclaw sighed very sharply. "We're going on a border patrol. I forgot," he said, and then after way too long a pause, "to send one out today." _Nice going._

"So that fox might have snuck back into the territory?" Cherrytail said, her tone indecipherable.

Sparrowpelt glared.

…

Three dark shapes wandering through the moonlight. No. Four. The fourth wound around them, quiet, unseen, dangerous, waiting. Russet fur and a bushy tail. Aching hearts and misinformed anger.

…

"I feel like it's not around anymore. Let's go back to bed," Sparrowpelt said, his voice still simmering with anger.

"I'm telling you, Sparrowpelt, I smelled a fox. As deputy, it's my duty to put the Clan before me. As a warrior, it's your duty to obey my orders, and right now your orders are to stay here and help me find it," Sharpclaw said. "Now spread out. We can catch it easier that way."

Cherrytail and Sparrowpelt obeyed, and Sharpclaw found himself alone in the dark, sniffing the ground and his ears twitching.

A yell split the air. Sparrowpelt skidded back into the clearing. "That was Cherrytail," he hissed.

A large shape burst into the small clearing as well, pursued by a Cherrytail-shaped blur. Sharpclaw's jaw fell in surprise,giving the fox ample opportunity to knock him over and nip at his throat. Just as it went for a killing move, Cherrytail grabbed its tail and pulled, allowing Sharpclaw to climb out from under it.

"Thanks," he panted. She turned to run, and he stopped her. "Let it back us into a corner."

"I trust you, but if we die, I'm killing you," Cherrytail warned.

"Sounds like a deal," Sharpclaw replied as they began to back away.

The fox was cautious now- it probably recognized their scents and remembered them as skilled fighters. But it was also clear that it understood it was backing them into a corner. Its steps quickened and its lips pulled back in a snarl.

When they were backed between two tree roots, Sharpclaw turned around and climbed the tree. "Stay on the ground," he told Cherrytail over his shoulder.

"I still trust you. This sounds insane," Cherrytail said.

He climbed the tree as quickly as he was able and slid out on a branch above the fox. Cherrytail was fending it off fairly well, but it knew she had no place to go. If she didn't climb soon, it would attack.

Sharpclaw didn't give it enough time. He let go of the branch and dropped on top of it, crushing it under his weight. Then he grabbed its scruff and pinned it down.

When the fox began to whimper and writhe in an attempt to show its belly, he stood up and let go. It ran with its tail between its legs.

Sparrowpelt crept down from the tree he had scaled when the fox had first arrived. "Sharpclaw, I'm sorry. You're not just messing around, you actually protected her. And you two work really well together," Sparrowpelt said cautiously. Sharpclaw frowned.

Cherrytail beat him to the punch. "What are you talking about, Sparrowpelt?"

"I kind of told him not to have a relationship with you," the small brown tom said with a wince. "I thought he was just using you."

"What?! I appreciate the sentiment, but. What?!" Cherrytail said. She spun on Sharpclaw. "Is that why you've been ignoring me? Why didn't you ignore him instead?"

"I assumed you were talking through him. The way apprentices do, you know. 'Birdpaw said Hopepaw said Robinpaw was talking to Yellowpaw and heard that Waterpaw's friend's sister's cousin Bluepaw doesn't like you anymore,'" Sharpclaw said. Now that he said it aloud, it seemed ridiculous.

"Oh my StarClan. You two are both idiots," Cherrytail sighed. "I'm glad we've got that over with. Let's get back home, now, boys."

**A/N: Over the course of this story I discovered Sharpclaw is not actually a sarcastic tough guy with a lust for power, but in fact a big, dumb, soft baby boy. It's nice to know.**


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